Critics at Large | The New Yorker

Episode: “Heated Rivalry,” “Pillion,” and the New Drama of the Closet
Date: January 29, 2026
Hosts: Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, Alexandra Schwartz

Overview

This episode explores the surprising cultural phenomenon of the Canadian TV drama “Heated Rivalry,” discusses the upcoming film “Pillion,” and examines the evolving dramatic and erotic role of the closet in gay love stories across literature and film. The hosts trace how stories of secrecy, yearning, and private versus public love continue to shape pop culture, even in more accepting times.

Heated Rivalry: A Cultural Supernova

What Is “Heated Rivalry”?

• Described as a Canadian hockey romance drama about two rival male hockey players who fall in love through “extremely sexy, private, clandestine encounters.”
• Created by showrunner Jacob Tierney for Crave, with leads Hudson Williams and Connor Story.
• The show, though made on a small budget, has become an unexpected sensation and a “full-blown cultural supernova” ([02:00]).

Notable Quotes

• “If you happen to be even later than us... it tells the story of two men... Rival hockey players who fall for each other...” — Vinson Cunningham ([02:00])
• "It stopped just being a TV show and became a full, full blown cultural supernova phenomenon." — Vincent Cunningham ([02:28])
• “Look, I did. And it’s quite literally impossible to look away.” — Alex Schwartz ([01:55])

Why Is This Show Hitting So Hard?

• The show’s impact is compared to a “virus” - spreading uncontrollably through social media and dominating conversation ([05:36]).
• The cast’s charisma fuels a “compounding” effect, where love for the characters spills into obsession with the actors.
• The hosts highlight the show’s broad appeal, especially to unexpected demographics—e.g., straight women suddenly interested in hockey ([07:21]).

Notable Quotes

• “Social media has fanned the flames and led to this, like, inescapable experience.” — Alex Schwartz ([06:15])
• “The commissioner of the NHL is saying, I have binged all the heated rivalries in a night.” — Vincent Cunningham ([07:01])

Texture, Tone, and the Pull of Teen Sincerity

Sincerity and Wish Fulfillment

• The show has a “teenage” energy—innocence, intensity, newness—coupled with extremely explicit sex scenes ([09:58], [11:17]).
• Sex is “the engine of the story,” not just an extra, leading to “very plotty” relationship development ([11:17]).
• It offers a uniquely optimistic and safe fantasy of coming out and being accepted, which Esther Perel and others interpret as a form of wish fulfillment ([15:45]).

Notable Quotes

• "To me, there’s something very teenage about it... the firstness and freshness arises in you" — Nomi Fry ([09:58])
• “These sex scenes are very plotty, they contain the engine of the story.” — Vinson Cunningham ([11:17])
• “I think there’s something that people are finding very restorative about that fantasy, the fantasy of the soft landing.” — Alex Schwartz ([16:02])

Humor and Corniness

• The show’s dialogue and subplot (e.g., Scott and Kip’s smoothie shop flirting) bounce between charming and “very teenage,” which both endears and provokes groans ([13:45]).
• The hosts openly embrace the show’s blend of “open-hearted... sincerity” and directness that “strides into the world of corniness” ([15:03]).

Memorable Segment

• “If Harry Potter was about fucking, it would sound like this.” — Vincent Cunningham ([14:07])

The Closet: Narrative Engine and Evolving Stakes

Literary & Cinematic Lineage

• Nomi Fry recalls E.M. Forster’s “Maurice,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Price of Salt/Carol,” and “My Own Private Idaho” as ancestors to Heated Rivalry ([21:15]).
• The “closet” is discussed as a powerful narrative device, representing secrecy, stakes, and the thrill (or pain) of revelation ([24:27]).

Notable Quotes

• “There is something about the closet in gay literature... a very, very strong narrative appeal because it means secrecy and it means the possibility of revelation.” — Alex Schwartz ([24:30])
• Alan Hollinghurst’s “Swimming Pool Library” is referenced:
  "'Oh, it was unbelievably sexy, much more so than nowadays. I'm not against gay lib and all that... but it has taken a lot of the fun out of it, a lot of the frisson.'" ([26:01])

Commodification, Acceptance, and New Closets

• With mainstream acceptance, the closet isn’t erased but morphs—sometimes into commodified public identity, or into new forms of private secrecy ([28:01], [29:23]).
• The hosts reflect on the tension between pride and privacy, especially when coming out can be both empowering and commercialized.

Notable Quotes

• “The moment something becomes mainstreamed... it becomes commoditized, corporatized, smoothed over, kind of CGI'd, and loses much of its originary texture.” — Vincent Cunningham ([28:17])
• “No, we’re keeping it to ourselves in order not to be... used and commoditized as this entity in this game of identity that these corporations are playing.” — Nomi Fry ([31:17])

Pillion: Yearning and the Drama of Power

Plot and Dynamics

• “Pillion” follows Colin (Harry Melling), a “good boy” and late-bloomer who falls into a sexually charged, BDSM-laced relationship with the dominant and hyper-masculine Rhae (Alexander Skarsgård) ([33:14]).
• The movie displaces the closet’s role by constructing yearning and drama through kink and secrecy within the relationship ([35:52]).
• An iconic scene: Colin brings Rhae to dinner with his loving parents, only for their unconventional dom-sub dynamic to play out, baffling the parents ([38:07]).

Notable Quotes

• “How do you explain to your parents… that the thing that you want is kind of conditioned by unsatisfied yearning, that the actual satisfaction is the unsatisfaction?” — Nomi Fry ([38:21])
• “Does explaining it ruin a piece of it?... There is a sexiness of frisson to the secrecy.” — Alex Schwartz ([38:38])

Closets within Closets

• Even with external acceptance, both films show that subcultural or private forms of secrecy persist as new “closets,” shaping intimacy and desire ([40:55]).

Notable Quotes

• “Is the closet even worse in liberal, pluralistic society?... Does... opening of the closet in wider society force us to seek deeper closets?” — Vincent Cunningham ([40:55])
• “The closet is something that lets everyone else in the society also define themselves.” — Alex Schwartz ([41:33])

Yearning: From Pathology to Capital ‘Y’ Yearn

The Return of Earnest Desire

• The hosts observe a cultural pivot: culture is rediscovering “yearning” as both narrative and affect ([42:54]).
• Lack of instant gratification, a “retro element” in media like “Heated Rivalry,” increases viewers’ emotional investment ([43:23]).
• Modern dating and app culture are discussed as antithetical to the slow burn of yearning, possibly fueling nostalgia for older romantic tropes ([44:40]).

Notable Quotes

• “Yearning is—2026 is the year of the Yearn. Oh, wow. People are yearning.” — Alex Schwartz ([43:08])
• “The span between, like, wanting and getting is ever, ever shortening... Has that actually, counterintuitively, led to a greater need for yearning?” — Alex Schwartz ([44:34])

Pathologizing Desire

• The team discusses social trends (breadcrumbing, orbiting) that frame unfulfilled desire as unhealthy, but maybe the tide is turning back to embracing yearning as vital to romance ([45:38]).

Notable Quotes

• “Billy is a little bit of a breadcrumber.” — Vincent Cunningham ([45:38])
• "There's something very ancient about it, which is like, oh, here is the young man whose whole life is romance... It's almost to say, like, I wanna reconnect with original impulses." — Vincent Cunningham ([45:59])

The Pleasure of Return

• Fans rewatch for the “urn burn”—the addictive pleasure of sustained, unsatisfied longing ([47:04]).

Memorable Moment

• “They want the urn to burn and they want the resolution of that burn. But what happens after the resolution?” — Nomi Fry & Alex Schwartz ([47:04])

Audience Q&A: Finding Meaningful Culture

(Selected segment responses from [48:07] onward)

• Naomi: Seeks relaxing and enriching art—listeners recommend “BoJack Horseman,” listening parties, Wim Wenders’s “Perfect Days,” Jeopardy!, and mindful museum visits.
• Alex: Wanted sports-themed art—listeners suggest “Thirteen Days in France,” “Beartown” (novel), “Hoop Dreams,” “Love and Basketball,” “Tokyo Olympiad.”
• Vincent: Advice on consuming culture as a parent—suggestions for disciplined routines, balancing media types, and accepting imperfection in cultural consumption.

Conclusion

Core Insights

• “Heated Rivalry” and “Pillion” tap into deep currents of narrative yearning, tension, and secrecy—showing how the closet, even as it morphs, remains an engine for desire and storytelling.
• The return of unabashed yearning represents a turn away from cynicism and instant gratification, capturing viewers’ needs for sincerity and slow-burning passion.
• The hosts celebrate viewers’ obsession with the “urn burn,” exploring the fantasy of risk-free, rapturous love alongside the persistent allure of the forbidden.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:00] – “Heated Rivalry” synopsis and initial discussion
• [06:15] – Social media’s role in the show’s explosion
• [11:17] – Steamy scenes as narrative engine
• [15:45] – Wish fulfillment and the fantasy of the “soft landing”
• [21:15] – Literary lineage and the closet
• [28:01] – Commodification, mainstreaming, and new forms of secrecy
• [33:14] – “Pillion” synopsis and kink as narrative
• [38:07] – Family dinner, secrecy, and the pleasure/pain of explanation
• [42:54] – Yearning as cultural theme, 2026 as the “year of the yearn”
• [48:07] – Audience Q&A and recommendations

Memorable Quotes

• “It is a family show when you think about it. Thanksgiving: one pillar is the turkey. The other, two men going at it like gangbusters.” — Nomi Fry ([04:51])
• “To me, there’s something very teenage about it... the firstness and freshness arises in you.” — Nomi Fry ([09:58])
• “These sex scenes are very plotty—they contain the engine of the story.” — Vinson Cunningham ([11:17])
• “The closet is a site of fantasy, and one is that the past is a site of fantasy also.” — Alex Schwartz ([26:01])
• “2026 is the year of the yearn. People are yearning.” — Alex Schwartz ([43:08])
• “They want the urn to burn and they want the resolution of that burn. But what happens after the resolution?” — Nomi Fry ([47:04])

Tone:
Smart, playful, open-hearted, a bit irreverent but deeply literate—reflecting both critical rigor and pop-culture joy.

For listeners or readers, this episode is an essential map of why tales of closeted love, yearning, and new queer storytelling are igniting audiences—and what these dramas reveal about our present cravings for sincerity and slow-burning passion in art.